Field Hockey grabs win in final regular season game
New England College field hockey forward Samantha Escobar (Rumney, N.H.) would net an unassisted goal with just over five minute remaining in regulation to lift he Pilgrims past the University of Southern Maine Huskies 4-3 Thursday afternoon. With the win the Pilgrims improve to 12-7 overall, while the Huskies fall to 10-8 on the season.
Southern Maine would open the scoring early as Kailey Bubier (Auburn, Maine) would dribble around a Pilgrim defender and find the back of the goal just 7:54 into the game. The Huskies would extend their lead to 2-0 in the 17th minute as Caitlin Albert (Scarborough, Maine) would rebound in a shot from India Lowe (Gloucester, Mass.)
Southern Maine would grab the 3-0 lead just minutes later as Cristina Coson (Naples, Maine) would record her second goal of the season unassisted at the 25:30 mark.
NEC would respond just one minute later as Khatianna Evans (Wayne, Maine) would put in a shot that would ricochet off a defender. The Pilgrims would cut the Southern Maine lead to 3-2 just before halftime as Samantha Escobar would lift in a shot over the goalie.
NEC would knot the game at 3-3 as Evans would hook up with Emily Kuchta (Norwalk , Conn.) off a corner play just over 20 minutes into the second half. The Pilgrim offense would continue to plug away as Escobar would put NEC up 4-3 rebounding in her own shot with 5:07 remaining on the clock.
Southern Maine would have scoring opportunities late in the game but junior Kate Carnaroli (Bellingham, Mass.) would record two huge defensive saves.
.
Picking up the win in net for NEC was Mary Roux (Auburn, Mass.) who finished with five saves. In net for Southern Maine was Allison Hill (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) who recorded eight saves.
New England College will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 31 when they host Salve Regina University in the opening round of the TCCC Playoffs at 1:00 p.m. Southern Maine will travel to take on conference opponent Fitchburg State on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 3:00 p.m.
